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Tuesday, December 16, 2008

More Beauty from the Ice Storm

On Saturday night, my mind was going crazy from all the beauty I saw. I couldn’t sleep. The moon was full and bright. Visions of what I might see were before me. I decided to get up before dawn and stomp around the hills. I wanted to see what the beautiful icy vistas would like at sunrise. I left in the dark. I drove up our hill and then down and around our road. Around the big bend, here is the scene at dawn. The blueness of the light was amazing.

Across the road, there is a stately apple tree that our sheep have spent many an afternoon under hiding from the sun.

Up the road on East Hill, the sun was beginning to come up from behind the horizon.

It was 15 degrees and every little stalk of grass was covered with a thick coating of ice.

I was the only one around - I still can't believe my fortune to have been there to see all this beauty.

On that side of town, everyone was hunkered down, trying to keep warm in their cold houses. People here are used to this kind of thing. Almost everyone has a wood stove so keeping warm isn't a problem. Cooking - just stick it in a cast iron pot on top of the stove. Let it simmer and supper will be done in about three hours. Country people have had to be resourceful before and they know how to survive without power for days - even if it isn't pleasant.

The sun started to rise higher in the sky and the light began to change.

These photos look so peaceful. Once I got used to the terrain and ice and taking care not to slip and hurt myself, I started to listen. I heard the ice falling as the wind rustled the trees - it was a a lovely tinkling sound. I had a brief moment when I wished I was a sound person with a tape recorder. As the folks started to wake up, I started to hear other noises - they weren't as pretty as tinkling ice. They were the roar of generators and chain saws. No more peace, but still alot of beauty.

By the time I left at 9:00 a.m., the sun was high in the sky. The road looked like this. I was pretty frozen but satisfied with myself for getting up so early on a Sunday. Thank goodness for wool socks, coat, hat, scarf, and mittens.

Thank you for these wonderful photos. It's amazing to me that not so very far away (I'm in Amherst) the weather has been so completely different! I like seeing the morning light gradually change in this series of pictures. Stay warm!!!

Your photos are truly beautiful. I'm amazed that you got up so early and stayed out so long--must have been the warmth of the wool, indeed. It was certainly worth it. Attitude makes a huge difference. I've been so enamoured of photos I took during a hoarfrost (similar, but ice crystals, and no sun) that I made one my blog header, but took it down when someone said it was depressing. It was so pretty to me, but depressing to her. Like those in town, she only saw the cold.

Gorgeous. We don't have ice storms like that here in Colorado. But one year we drove a few hours from Denver for Thanksgiving, out onto the southern plains, and everything was completely frosted -- it was so beautiful and magical, it was burned into my memory like this.

You are such a gifted photographer - the changing sky and light as dawn broke are stunning. No denying the beauty of an icestorm. I love being alone like that in the winter - so utterly still in the woods - no sounds except nature's. Thank you for getting up early!Susan from Framingham (ma)

what breathtaking beauty - and the peaceful stillness is beautifully convyed through the photos. As for the tinkling, that is exactly the sound I would have imagined from the delicacy of the ice on the blades of grass.

Oh, my - gorgeous photos! And you're right, that it's amazing how an ice storm can be both damaging and beautifully stunning at the same time. We have had them here in Michigan. What an amazing way to start your day! Thanks for sharing.

It's amazing how nature can be so destructive and beautiful at the same time. Your photos are amazing. We have a fresh coat of snow from yesterday and I'm going to take some photos before it gets trampled by the dog!

Your pictures are simply stunning! I love snow and ice pictures, and recently published a bunch myself. THere's just something so magical about this time of year - even beneath the danger of these storms.

Beautiful post, beautiful photos. (Are you dreaming up a new color palette??) Your dawn photos for some reason made me think of the last line of Tennyson's "In Memoriam"--"God made Himself an awful rose of dawn." (I think you're supposed to read awe-ful.)Thanks for the vicarious experience!

The photos are fabulous. I love shooting nature pictures - and looking at them over and over again. Fortunately I live not far from the woods and close to Lake Superior. The pictures bring back the emotions and great memories when you see them again. You capture a piece of time somehow... Thanks so much for sharing!

I spent my first-ever winter in Germany last year, living in the countryside, surrounded by snow. (First-because I'm a California girl!) The quiet was unbelievable. Thanks for the photos, they've brought back memories of my stay!

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